Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Express
by Splash of Blue
Summary: Harry And Co. board the Hogwarts Express to return to Hogwarts for their fourth year. But other, stranger things are on the train with the pupils..... *Chapter 4 now up!!!!*
1. Escape From the Dursleys

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts  
Express  
  
Harry Potter sat up in bed and yawned. It was September the first, and Harry was starting his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not only did he attend an unusual school, but 13 years ago he had been left on the doorstep of his bullying Aunt and Uncle Dursley, because his parents had been murdered by the evil Lord Voldemort. Voldemort had tried to kill Harry too, but, somehow, could not. And, for a reaon nobody knew, the moment he had failed to murder Harry, the Dark Lord's powers had broken. Weak and barely alive, Voldemort had fled. But Harry had met him twice since at Hogwarts, where he and the lightening scar Harry had been left with as a result of Voldemort's attack, were famous.  
Suddenly Harry heard his Aunt Petunia screech through his bedroom door:  
"Get up! Now! And cook the bacon!"  
"All right, all right," mumbled Harry, getting out of bed, "I'm getting up."  
As Harry was frying the bacon, his Uncle Vernon and enormous cousin Dudley came in. Uncle Vernon suddenly noticed Harry.  
"You boy, the trip to London's been cancelled. You can't go to that freak place you call school."   
The Dursleys were what wizards called Muggles (non-magic people), and as far as they were concerned, having a wizard in the family was a matter of the deepest shame and horror.  
Harry, however, smiled to himself. He knew a much better way of getting to King's Cross Station, where he caught the Hogwarts Express, than Uncle Vernon's company car.  
After a hurried breakfast, (the Express left at 11 o'clock), Harry heaved his trunk, spellbooks and Firebolt racing broom to the front door, not bothering to tell Uncle Vernon where he was going. He'd send him an owl later. He walked a few streets and stuck out his right hand. Suddenly a huge, violent purple triple-decker bus covered with gold stars fell out of the sky with a noise like thunder- the Knight Bus.   
"Allo 'Arry!" shouted Stan Shunpike, the conductor, jumping down on to the pavement and helping Harry tug his heavy trunk aboard.  
Harry grinned. He had used the Knight Bus before, and he knew that this was no ordinary bus. There were no seats, but there were beds.   
"Eleven sickles please," said Ernie Prang the driver.  
Stan pulled out his wand, waved it, and the beds turned into deep red padded sofas. Harry felt his jaw drop. Stan grinned.  
"Catchin' flies, 'Arry?" he joked, slamming the doors shut. Harry closed his mouth and sank down into the richly padded sofas. He knew what was going to happen next.  
"Take 'er away, Ern!" yelled Stan, and the bus took off with a huge bang.   
Because Ernie never used a steering wheel, the bus kept mounting the pavement, but everything simply jumped out of the way and back into position once the Knight Bus had passed. Every time it moved abruptly from one place to another everything inside, including passengers, suffered a big jolt, resulting in Stan spilling his flask of hot tea, which was closely followed by a yell from Harry as his books fell on top of him.  
Two hours later, after a madcap journey, the Knight Bus finally pulled to a holt outside King's Cross Station, and, as Harry got out, he could see Ron Weasley, one of his two best friends from Hogwarts, arriving at the station with two of his five brothers, Fred and George, and their little sister Ginny, together with their parents.  
"Oy! Harry!" yelled Ron, seeing him."Hermione's just gone into the station!"  
Hermione was Harry and Ron's other best friend from Hogwarts.   
"Hi,Harry" Fred and George, the identical twins said, together. "Have a good holiday?"  
"Not really," answered Harry. "But I played a great trick on the Dursleys!"  
And, laughing and chatting, the friends grabbed a trolley, loaded their things and walked into the station, followed by tall, balding Mr. Weasley and his short plump wife.  
"Don't forget, the platform number's nine and three-quarters!" piped up Ginny, who was in her third year at Hogwarts.  
"We know!" chorused everyone else. "Don't nag, Ginny!"  
With everything loaded onto their trolleys they walked on - straight through the barrier between platforms nine and ten!  
As they arrived on the platform Harry could see the huge, purple Hogwarts Express in front of them and, as always, he began to get excited, but wait- who was that shadowy figure in front of the guard?   
With a thrill of excitement, Harry made to run after whoever it was, but a shrill cry from behind him made him turn.  
"Harry, over here, quickly!" it was Hermione. "The Express's about to go!"  
Harry raced after her, quickly heaved his trunk into their compartment and then jumped in himself.  
"What on earth were you doing?" asked Ron. "You look like you've seen a ghost."  
Harry explained what he'd seen- or thought he had. Ron looked suitably shocked, but Hermione didn't think he'd seen anything special.  
"Oh, that's just our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher", she explained airily. "He's a ghost, you know, like Binns." Professor Binns was the History of Magic teacher at Hogwarts.  
"Well, I hope he's not as boring," said Ron.  
Harry didn't answer. He had a strange feeling that Professor Whoever-He-Was was definitely not going to be as boring as Professor Binns.  
In the next installment- Who is the  
mystery teacher?  



	2. On the Express

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts 

Express 

Part 2 

As the Express' speed grew, Harry's fears lessened. Of course, he thought, Hermione was right. He was probably just being paranoid. 

Later, as he talked and laughed with Ron and Hermione, he forgot about the figure altogether. 

Just as everyone was beginning to get hungry, and to think longingly of bars of chocolate and pumpkin pasties, a squat little wich came in with the food trolley. Harry bought a box of chocolate frogs and a packet of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans to share with Ron and Hermione, while Hermione bought three bottles of foaming hot Butterbeer to share as well as two pasties for herself. 

Suddenly, the door to their compartment opened and a strange figure came in. He was tall and grey, with strangely sinister features on his thin, shrivelled face. His eyes were sunken in, black and the only part of him that seemed truly alive. Harry shivered -the air seemed to be suddenly cold. He didn't fancy his Butterbeer as much as he'd thought. Then the figure spoke, in a hoarse whisper: "I am your new teacher, Professor Drolv. I trust you are all happy?" 

"Yes, Professor." answered Hermione. She was the only one who spoke, because the others were too shocked. Surely he wasn't a ghost? You could see through a ghost, yet he looked solid. 

Harry felt certain he had seen him before- the slitlike eyes and thin nose were oddly familiar. At the same time, Harry was sure he had never met anyone called Drolv. 

Suddenly Drolv looked past Hermione and straight at Harry. His eyes had turned a strange amber colour, like a cat's, and had suddenly begun to glow. 

"Look into my eyes," he murmured slowly. Harry realised he was being hypnotised and, as he worked this out, a sharp, white-hot pain shot through his head. Drolv seemed to realise that Harry knew, because he turned away, muttering "I'll get you, Potter. I'll get you yet." 

He slowly backed out of the compartment, his eyes returning to their original black. 

"I've got to tell you two something," Harry hissed at Ron and Hermione as soon as he was sure Professor Drolv was out of earshot. "That Professor Drolv, he was trying to hypnotise me." 

"Don't be silly," replied Hermione. "What would he want to do that for?" 

"Don't ask me, but I'm sure I've seen him before somewhere." Harry answered. 

"Anyway, Hermione," put in Ron,"I thought you said that our new teacher was a ghost? Drolv's not transparent, just weird." 

"Professor Dumbledore told me that he would be a ghost," said Hermione, looking puzzled. 

Then who is Drolv?" Harry asked. "Dumbledore's got no reason to lie about who he is, he knows we'll have to see him at Hogwarts. Anyway, Dumbledore doesn't lie." 

"It'll give him a shock when Drolv arrives then", said Ron, with a chuckle. 

"It's not funny, Ron", Hermione told him sternly. "If Drolv isn't who he says he is, he could be You-Know-Who, for all we know." 

Suddenly Harry realised where he'd seen Drolv before. 

"Hermione, have you got any paper?" he asked urgently. 

"Yes, right here", Hermione answered, passing him a sheet. 

Harry scribbled 'Drolv', reversed the 'Drol' and left the 'v'. 

"Ron, that's no professor", Harry said. "That's Voldemort!" 

Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth and Ron grabbed the sheet from Harry. 

"Of course," he said, suddenly understanding. "Drolv is an anagram of Lord V!" 

"We've got to tell Dumbledore,"said Hermione. "But how did Dumbledore get tricked by You-Know-Who?" 

"We'll find that out at Hogwarts,"Harry answered grimly."Anyway, at the moment we can't do anything." 

Ron leaned back on his chair to try and forget about everything, but suddenly he was thrown forward as the Hogwarts Express screeched to a halt. 

In the next installment- How can Harry, Ron and Hermione stop Voldemort? 


	3. Enter the Dark One

Untitled 

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts 

Express 

Part 3 

Suddenly the entire train went dark. Harry, who had fallen when the train jolted, got shakily to his feet and suddenly found his wand in his hand. 

"Lumos," he muttered and a light appeared at the end of his wand, enough for him to make out the dark shapes of Ron and Hermione by. They both muttered the same spell and the compartment was quickly filled with a light bright enough for them to see clearly. The other two got two their feet as Harry asked: 

"What happened?" 

"No idea," Hermione answered. "But let's see if we can find out!" 

They all slipped out of the compartment into the next, hearing the faint cries of the others. 

A wet gulp from a toad told them that they were in a compartment which, among others, was occupied by Neville Longbottom. Trevor the toad was Neville's pet. 

"W-who are you?" asked a shaky voice as someone else lit their wand. 

"It's only us, Neville," hissed Harry. "Who else is here?" 

"Dean Thomas, Ginny Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, Cleo Chang, and the Weasley twins." answered Neville. "What's going on?" 

"No idea," said Ron. "But keep your voices down, we might hear any minute now." 

Just then, a shadowy voice echoed through the train. 

"Stay where you are." said the voice. "You will not be getting to Hogwarts tonight. You must give your wands in immediately. One person is to step outside their compartment and place them on the floor outside." 

The voice suddenly broke off and everyone looked at each other, stunned. What was going on? 

Ron suddenly had an idea. 

"Hermione, conjure up some fake wands and we'll keep the real ones. Our evil lord is certainly having some fun tonight, but at least we'll still have our wands." 

"Y-you mean," stuttered Ginny, "T-that was You-Know-Who?" 

"We think so," answered Harry grimly. "Anyway, we'll find out soon enough. He'll tell us, that's for sure." 

"But, if it is You-Know-Who, what's he after? wondered George. "After all, he may be mad, but he's clever. You'd think that, after Harry defeated him three times, he'd realise that he won't be finishing him off." 

"You're right," said Hermione, finishing off a batch of wands by adding an extremely small amount of magic power. "And we'd never beat him, even with wands, so why have we got to give them up? We're not that powerful!" 

"Hang on a minute!" said Cleo. "You-Know-Who hasn't got enough power, either. Maybe he just wants the wands, not any of us." 

"That's it!" cried Dean. "You-Know- Who wants the wands to make him powerful enough to fight you, Harry, or maybe even Dumbledore!" 

"Yeah," said Seamus. "The trouble is, how do we stop him?" 

Meanwhile, in the engine room of the Hogwarts Express, a tall, grey figure knew exactly what he needed to do. 

"You- tell her to stop," he spat at Harold, the engine's driver. 

"Yes, Sir," droned Harold, in a trance. 

He leant outside the window and bellowed: 

"Hortense, STOP!" The brakes slammed and Madam Hortense, the Hogwarts Express, whistled loudly. 

"'Ot ees going on?" she enquired in a distinct French accent. 

In The Final Installment- I Don't Know, I Haven't Written It Yet!- Bethan 

Document created with wvWare/wvWare version 0.6.7 -->


	4. Explanations and a Face from the Past

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts  
  
Express  
  
Part 4  
  
"You," replied Voldemort, "Are going to do what I tell you, or else."  
  
"Oo sez?" snapped the engine.  
  
The Dark Lord smiled grimly; pulling out one of the wands handed in.  
  
"I do," he said softly, muttering something under his breath.  
  
A sharp pain ran through Madam Hortense and she whistled loudly.  
  
"All right, all right!" she puffed. "Wot do you want me to do?"  
  
"Get us out of here," Voldemort hissed. "Take us to Valkeeshriek. Thanks to Wormtail and Crouch's combined efforts, I now have a body again, and I will put it to the best of uses."  
  
Hermione, using a black crystal spying ball, was watching all this, and the others crowded around her eagerly.  
  
"There!" she said triumphantly. "It is You-Know-Who, but who's Crouch, and where's Valkeeshriek?"  
  
"Valkeeshriek is the dark underworld," answered Ron. "A sort of home for Dark wizards, where they used to gather before Harry put paid to You-Know- Who."  
  
"When that happened, Valkeeshriek was supposed to have been destroyed," added Fred. "But obviously they either can't have done it properly, or the Dark Wizards have restored it and built it up again."  
  
"And Bartemius Crouch works at the Ministry for Magic!" squeaked Ginny. "His son was a dark wizard who got caught and died in Azkaban!"  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged worried looks. They could guess what the next question was going to be.  
  
"But who's Wormtail?" asked Cleo Chang.  
  
"Err... one of You-Know-Who's supporters," said Hermione quickly. This, at least, was true. "He wasn't caught." This was also true.  
  
Cleo seemed to be happy with this, and fell silent, while Harry, Ron and Hermione heaved a collective sigh of relief. They hadn't been sure how to explain about Wormtail, one of Harry's father's best friends before he betrayed James and Lily, Harry's mother. Most people now thought that Wormtail was dead, and very few people knew different, but Harry, Ron and Hermione were one of the few.  
  
To hide the slightly awkward moment, Harry asked Hermione admiringly "Where did you get that spyball thing?"  
  
"From Professor McGonagall," answered Hermione. "She came to me in this really weird mood, and said that I would need it badly, but when I asked her why, she couldn't seem to remember anything she'd said."  
  
"Hang on a minute!" said Harry suddenly. "That old bat, Professor Trelawney, did a similar thing to me, but McGonagall's not like that. With Trelawney, I think she was coming out of a trance or something."  
  
"You're kidding," sniggered Ron. "The old bat's so good at acting she could fool herself, but a real prediction? She makes better tea."  
  
"Dumbledore thought it might have been real though," replied Harry. "And if you think about it, the prediction came true- at least in part."  
  
"What prediction?" asked Seamus curiously.  
  
"Err.... we're not supposed to tell anyone," said Hermione nervously. "But considering the situation, we may as well tell you the lot now, or you might not understand what happens later, and that could be dangerous for all of us. Maybe Dumbledore will use a memory charm on you when we sort all this out."  
  
"Well, if we're not supposed to know, a Memory Charm would probably be a good idea," said Fred. "Ginny has a hard time keeping her mouth shut sometimes, and her friends are even worse!"  
  
Ginny playfully punched him at this, but, at the beginning of Harry's story, all thought of playfulness went out of her mind.  
  
"Anyhow, Harry," said Ron." You start, you know most about it all."  
  
"Well," began Harry, "It all began when, at the end of my Divination exam last year, Trelawney, the teacher, went into a kind of trance- her eyeballs rolled right back into her head and her voice went all kind of deep and weird. She said something like the Dark Lord would rise again, and his servant would set out to meet him at midnight that night. Well, that night, we went to see Hagrid, and Ron got dragged under the Whomping Willow by this enormous black dog as we left. Me and Hermione followed, and we had to go down this little tunnel which led to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade- you know that place? Anyhow, when we got there, we found that the dog was Sirius Black and that he was an unregistered Animagus. We also found out that he was innocent of all the crimes he had been in Azkaban for, and that it was really Peter Pettigrew, whose nickname is Wormtail, who was guilty. You see, when dad was alive he had three best friends- Remus Lupin, the DADA teacher last year, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. The first two of these have always been loyal to him, but Pettigrew betrayed him and my mother to Voldemort while everyone else thought it was Sirius who had betrayed them. Because of him, Voldemort found and killed my parents. Anyhow, we- meaning Lupin, Sirius, me, Ron and Hermione- caught Pettigrew, who was also an Animagus and was Ron's rat, but he escaped that night- at midnight."  
  
There was a stunned silence as Harry's story came to a close, but eventually Dean found his voice.  
  
"You mean Sirius Black never hurt anyone in his life? He was completely innocent?"  
  
"Yes," responded Ron. "He was completely innocent of all blame. It was Pettigrew who betrayed Lily and James, and Pettigrew who murdered all the people in that street, not Sirius."  
  
"Yes, and to change the subject, which isn't a pleasant one, Harry said Trelawney seemed to be coming out of a trance," said Hermione. "Well, McGonagall was acting the same way. There's a curse -one of the Unforgivable- that controls people, and McGonagall might have been able to break it for long enough to give me the Spying Glass. If she suddenly couldn't fight it any longer, then she probably wouldn't have been able to remember what she had said."  
  
"What's the Unforgivables?" asked Cleo, puzzled. "I've never heard of those."  
  
"The Unforgivables are three curses which, if you use them on another human being, are worth a life's sentence in Azkaban," answered George. "They were used a lot by Dark wizards, to make people do things and to torture them."  
  
"That's right," agreed Hermione. "Some people can fight the Imperius curse, which puts you under the total control of the user." As usual, she sounded exactly like she'd swallowed the textbook, and normally Ron would have laughed, but this was a totally different situation from normal, even by wizarding standards.  
  
"Well, this is a great discussion on The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, but it's not exactly what we're we' re interested in at the moment," said Harry.  
  
"Watch out- someone's coming!" hissed Neville suddenly, from his post at the door on guard duty.  
  
Immediately they all became intensely absorbed in a discussion on Quidditch, Hermione hoping fervently all the while that what she was saying about Wronski Feints was correct, not being as into the sport as the others.  
  
They were all aware of a pair of cold eyes watching them, and Ginny, who had broken her mirror earlier, sat with a piece of it in her hand to tell the others when it was safe to go on with the earlier topic of conversation.  
  
When Ginny gave the all clear, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Thank goodness for that!" said Cleo. "I can't pretend for that long. So, are we going to carry on working out what exactly we're going to do about You-Know-Who?"  
  
"Call him by his real name, Cleo." answered Harry. "Dumbledore does and, after all, what's good enough for him should be good enough for the rest of us. Besides, Voldemort's easier and causes less confusion. But yes, we'd better get busy because I don't know what on earth's going to happen next."  
  
Though everyone except Harry trembled slightly involuntarily at the mention of the dark lord's real name, they didn't bother to argue. They didn't have the time to argue over trifles such as what to call their enemy, because all they felt they needed to bother with was beating him. Hermione pressed on with the task in hand.  
  
"Harry, you've got Hedwig haven't you?" she asked. "Is she awake?"  
  
"Yes to both of your questions," answered Harry, after checking. "Why?"  
  
"Well, if we can get word to Sirius he'll know what to do much better than better than any of us." she answered.  
  
"No need," called Ron from his position near the window. "He's already here!" 


End file.
